I'm wanting to upgrade my gears/stall converter soon, but can't decide between the 3.42's and 3.73's. MY car sees 95% daily driving, and a few visits to the track every once in a while. Choosing a brand is also bugging me. I know there is no "best" part, but I hear diff. things for different brands. I plan on getting a 3200-3600 stall w/ the gears for a good launch and help on a roll. Any opinions are welcome. I'm just wondering what my fellow f-body-ers think.

Gabe

 

What gears you have now? The 3.42's will give you about 2500rpms at 80 on the freeway. The lower the gear the better freeway gas mileage. 3.42s are pretty damn good gears, and the motor still runs pretty smooth at 2500 rpms, with minimal gas mileage loss. Most people are pure power and number freeks on this board, so most answers I bet willl be the 3.73's or 4.10s, both would be a little high on the rpms at cruising, but it all really, really, really depends on you. I am way upmost for streetability, than running on the speedway, which I only do to test my modifications anyways. If you are not running drag radials, or the widest possible tire combo on your vehicle, the taller the gear the harder it will be to get good street acceleration without peeling out all the time, and going through tires fast. I used to do the drag slick thing on the street with my old mustang and the 4.10s, but tires lasted me 4000 miles, and my gas mileage was ****, so road trips with that car really sucked. The guys with sticks having 6 gears to play with really get away with running some good stuff, cause the shifting and launching is more controlable with practice, and the tall gears give them good freeway driving even with 4.10s My friends 2001 SS camaro has 4.10s, and I can't keep with him on the open road, but I blast him everytime from a standstill, cause he can't hook, only with a good burnout at the track does he smoke me, and he still only runs about 2500rpms at 80 in 6th. If you want a little more performance than the 3.42s, the 3.73s with a good 3500 stall and slicks on the A4 is pretty good, coming in the end of the quarter at mid 5000rpms, giving really good times, and not complicated to launch with slicks.

 

3.73's rock......i don't have a stall yet, but i have nitto 555rs and they hook great on the street.......about 2500 rmps is 70-75 for me.......i only get 17 miles or so a gallon, but i also need my car tuned.....btw they were in the car when i bought it, i think they are richmond, not sure though

 

342s all the way , if you have 323s leave them in if you have 273s go 342s, the converter will make up alot of feeling out the whole, from a roll the converter isnt that great for us A4 guys we will always have problems against a M6 car...

 

3.42's is all you need, i ran them with a 3600 stall, 4200 and a 4400 stall when my car was stock internal, no need really to step up to 3.73's.

TCI has a GP right now, i would get in on that with a 3500 or 3800 stall.

 

3.42's here with a TCI SSF 3500...I daily drive my Z, have no idea what mileage is, but it's a perfect setup to me. Any more gear and I think it would not be as much fun on the highway. A good converter will more than make up any advantage from 3.73's so yeah in closing...3.42...sorry for the ramble

 

TTT. lookin for some more input. im in the same situation

thanks
J

 

I'm just getting back into RWD V8 cars but maybe I can share with you my impressions of my car. I've got a 2000 Camaro SS with a Pro Yank 3400 converter and a Moser 12 bolt w/3.42 gears. This combo works very well on the stock motor. I ran 8.309 yesterday in the 1/8th mile with it on brick hard street tires. I'm switching to 3.73 gears however because of the mods I'm going with on the car and the fact that I'll be switching to better tires (slicks probably) when I go to the track. If sqeezing every last tenth out of your car is important to you, go with the 3.73's as they'll offer you a little better acceleration off the line with sticky tires. If not, go 3.42's.

 

3.73 and pt 4000 feel good

 

3.42's are perfect if you do some freeway driving, like to drive at higher speeds, and keep the rpms reasonable. Plenty of grunt around town, good at the track, and good on the freeway.